Microsoft’s Project Spark Game Creation Tool Will Come Out Of Beta In Early October

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Microsoft today announced that the retail version of its Project Spark game-creation tool for PC and Xbox One will be available in October. It’ll go on sale in the Americas on October 7, in Asia-Pacific countries on October 9 and in Europe on October 10. The retail version will sell for $39.99 and include a bunch of new content for users to use in their own games, as well as “Champions Quest: Void Storm,” the first episode of a new campaign adventure.

Project Spark was developed by Team Dakota and will be published by Microsoft Studios and it’s a little bit like LittleBigPlanet on the Playstation. Just like that game/tool, Project Spark is also all about sharing your creation with the rest of the community (but it has a somewhat stronger focus on creating games).

There is no word whether there will be an Xbox 360 version, too. Microsoft announced Xbox 360 support at E3 2013, but it’s been pretty quiet about this ever since, and there’s no mention of a version for Microsoft’s older console.

Right now, you can download the beta version of Project Spark for Xbox One (which has been available since March) and PC. According to today’s announcement, you’ll continue to be able to use it after the retail version goes on sale. You’ll simply receive an update around that time and all your credits, levels and creations will remain intact.

I’ve always found building games with Project Spark on the Xbox One to be pretty tedious. On the PC, however, it’s actually quite fun once you get the hang of it. There is a lot of trial and error involved and that kind of work is simply easier on the PC where you can use your keyboard and mouse. With the Kinect integration, on the other hand, the Xbox One does offer some features that aren’t available if you’re only building a game on the PC.

OverviewProject Spark enables its users to build, play, and share games on Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows 8.
It enables game players to download other user-generated content, remix that content to another game, or create content of their own. These created content (environments) can contain mountains, rivers, and towns as well as events such as inter-character battles. Its players are able to choose whether …